Israel Esan Owolabi is the provost, College of Engineering,

Afe Babalola University Afe Babalola University (ABUAD) is a private university located in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. It was founded by a lawyer and philanthropist, Afe Babalola, in 2009. Afe Babalola University offers Academic programs in six Colleges: Science ...

Background

Owolabi was born on 27 April 1935 at Ayegbaju Ekiti,

Ekiti State Ekiti State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkìtì) is a state in southwestern Nigeria, bordered to the north by Kwara State, to the northeast by Kogi State, to the south and southeast by Ondo State, and to the west by Osun State. Named for the Ekiti peo ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. He had his secondary education at

Christ's School Ado Ekiti Christ's School, Ado Ekiti is a day and boarding, government-owned secondary school located in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. Originally conceived as a boys school, it attained a co-educational status when, in 1966, it was merged with its girls ...

, (1951–1955), and tertiary education at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology,

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

(1956–1958) for his GCE Advanced Level, University College,

, (1958–1961) for his B.Sc., (Hons) physics. He received his Ph.D. in physics from

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

(1961–1964).

Career

He started university teaching career as lecturer at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife, in the Department of Physics (1964 -1971) and moved to the newly established Department of Electronics, Faculty of Technology, as senior lecturer (1971–1976) and reader (1976–1978) of the same university. He transferred his service to the

University of Ilorin University of Ilorin, also known as Unilorin, is a federal government-owned university in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. It was established by a decree of the federal military government in August, 1975. The establishment aimed to implement one o ...

as the pioneer professor of

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

in 1978. He became the dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology (1980–1984) and deputy vice-chancellor (DVC) (1989–1993) and served as the head of the Department of Electrical Engineering in between the posts of dean and DVC. After retiring voluntarily in 1993, he has served continuously on contract basis as professor of electrical/electronic engineering at the

(1993–2000), Ladoke Akintola University (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso (2001–2005), University of Ado-Ekiti, now

Ekiti State University Ekiti State University Ado Ekiti is a state government owned and operated Nigerian university, located in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. It was established as Obafemi Awolowo University, Ado-Ekiti on 30 March 1982 by the administration of Ch ...

(EKSU) (2005–2010), and currently Afe Babalola University (ABUAD), Ado-Ekiti, 2010 to date. For senior university administrative experience, Owolabi has served on the Governing Councils of the

University of Ife Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is a federal government-owned university that is located in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife ...

as Congregation Representative (1976–1978),

(1980–1984) as Senate Representative and (1989–1993) as DVC. He is currently serving on the Council of ABUAD as Senate Representative. He has been a member of Senate of the universities of Ife, Ilorin, LAUTECH, EKSU and ABUAD continuously from 1976 to date.

References

Living people People from Ekiti State Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian universities Academic staff of the University of Ilorin Academic staff of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Academic staff of Obafemi Awolowo University Christ's School, Ado Ekiti alumni Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham Academic staff of Afe Babalola University 1935 births Nigerian educators {{Nigeria-academic-bio-stub